Attachment for potato-digging machines



March 25 1924. Y 1,488,348

w. KEIFFER ATTACHMENT FOR POTATO DIGGING MACHINES F l y 25. 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 25 1924.

W. KEIFFER ATTACHMENT FOR POTATO DIGGING MACHINES I Filed May 25 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 25, 1924.

u air r r WSZLIE KEIFFER, OF PEBHAM, IEIHNESOTAQ ATTACHMENT FOR POTATO-DTGGIIJG MACHINES.

Application filed May 25, 1922. Serial No. 563,609.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, VVYLIE Knirrnn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Perham, in the county of Otter Tail and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in an Attachment for Potato-Digging Machines; and I do hereby declare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a collecting or gathering attachment for potato digging machines.

i It is aimed to provide an attachment which may be connected to various types, sizes andstyles of potato digging machines and in which'the fall of the potatoes will slight so asto avoid bruising them, and by meansOfwhicli hand picking of potatoes is avoided in that it will deposit the collected or gathered potatoes in piles and in which the hand picking of rows subsequent to digging is avoided and which is a tedious and expensive practice although indulged in generally at the present time.

Another object is to provide a construction" in which the gathering attachmentmay be dumped or lowered, eitherautomatically or bymanually operated means, at desired intervals. i

' Additional objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the description following taken in connection with accompanying drawings illustrating one practical embodiment.

Figure 1 is'af View illustrating .the attachment applied to a potato digging machine, the latter being shown fragmentarily,

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the parts of Figure 1, i

Figure 3 1s a rear elevation; Figure at 1s a detail perspective view lllustrating the adjustable attaching means for say that the potatoes follow a course in the direction of and discharge from a tablerepresented by spaced rods or fingers B. The frame of the digger A is designated C, particularly having sides at D.

The attachment includes a mounting rod or bar 10 which is pivotally journaled in attaching brackets generally designated 11. These brackets may be of any suitable construotion and for instance of three parts l2, l3 and 1 1 those at 12 and 13 having arcuate portions 15 embracing the rod 10 secured in: such relation by means of one or more adjustable bolts at 16. This construction enables the brackets 11 to be placed at any desired location along the bar 10 and to thereby adapt the attachment for connection to various types and sizes of digging machines.

The parts 1 1- may be bolted to the parts 12 at 17 to engage the sides D of the digger A. .Saidbar 11 0 forms part of a gathering or collecting element or basket 19, generally of reticulate form .and dished as shown, being completed for example by curved bars 20 disposed on top of said bar 10 and joined and riveted or'otherwise fastened to a reinforcing. and supporting bar .21 disposed below the same, whereby'the upper surface of the basket will be smooth and the potatoes will not be bruised by contact therewith.

The basket is disposed directly below and relatively close to the fingers B so that jpotatoes in traveling over the fingers B will not have to drop a material distance and wherebythey will be saved from bruising. In actual practice, the drop from the fingers .to the basket will not be more than one or.v two inches. The basket is normally disposed horizontally so that the potates may readily fall thereinto' from-said fingers B.

The-tendency of the basket l9-is to fall to the. ground under weight of the potatoes therein in order to discharge them. Said basket is held in a horizontal position counter to the weight of the potatoes in any suitable manner, preferably by trip or actuating means. This means may consist of a post or rod 22 rising from the basket and having a link or rod 23 pivoted thereto and" extending forwardly therefrom preferably to a point adjacent the operators seat on the potato digging machine. At its front end, said rod 23 is pivoted at 24: to a lever 25 pivoted at 26 and adapted to be maintained in its adjusted position through the medium of a suitable plunger thereon adapted to coact with a gear segment or rack 26. When the lever 25 is in its foremost position, the basket 19 is elevated. The lever 25, may be thrust rearward which through the medium of the link 23 and rod 22 will lower the basket 19 into contact with or adjacent to the ground so that the potatoes will fall therefrom onto the ground into a pile.

It will be seen that as the potato digger operates, the potatoes will pass over the rods or fingers B and fall into the basket 19, being gathered or collected therein, and that the same may be emptied or dumped at desired intervals through the manipulation of the lever 25.

Particular attention is called to the fact that this device saves considerable labor, avoiding row picking as i done by hand at the present time in order to arrange the potatoes in piles, which my improvement does as a continuation of the digging operation. Also particular attention is called to the slight drop of the potatoes from the fingers into the basket which avoids injury thereto.

' In some instances, the basket 19 may be arranged to automatically discharge under the collection of potatoes of predetermined weight as suggested in Figure 5. In the form of that figure, the construction is the same as in th other form except that the arm 22, link 23, and lever 25 are dispensed with. In their stead, an arm or rod 27 is provided which is pivoted as at 28 to the basket. The rod 27 i slidably mounted through an elongated slot 29 in a guide bar 30 which may be secured as by bolts at 31 to one of the sides D of the digger A. Above the bar 30, a coil spring 32 surrounds the same and rests on the bar. A nut or other fastening means 33 may be provided at the upper end of the rod 27 to form an abutment for engagement by the spring 32. As the spring 32 is of a known tension, the basket 19 will automatically tilt or swing downwardly from its pivot at the bar 10 upon potatoes of a predetermined weight being collected on the basket 19. It will be understood that the spring 32 is readily been shown by wayof example, it is to be understood that changes in the details may be resorted to provided they fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim as my invention 1. A machine of the class described having a basket to receive products, said basket having an attaching bar, and attaching means adjustable along said bar and for engagement with the machine.

2. A machine of the class described having a reticulate basket to receive products, an attaching bar, clamps adjustable along said bar and attachable to the machine, said bar being pivoted to said clamps, and said basket being movable from a normal to a dumping position.

3. A machine of the class described having a discharge table, a reticulate basket under and relatively close to said table substantially avoiding falling of the products.-

into the basket, said basket having an attaching bar, longitudinal bars on said attaching bar, a brace bar for said longitudinal bars, said attaching bar and brace bar being lowermost whereby the upper surface of the bars will besubstantially uninterrupted to avoid bruising of products, brackets attachable to the machine, and said brackets having separable parts to permit adjustment along said attaching bar and to pivotallyv mount said attaching bar.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WYLIE KEIFFER.

WVitnesses:

A. SHARRON, H. A. BAKER. 

